NEW DELHI: Correctional homes in West Bengal plan to serve special meals during Durga Puja, including mutton biryani and basanti pulao, to ensure inmates also celebrate the festival, an official announced on Saturday.
These changes in the menu will be effective from Sasthi (October 9) to Dashami (October 12).
"We get requests from inmates for better food during every festival. We have got a new menu this year and are hopeful that this will bring smiles to their faces. I personally consider this as a very positive move to reform them," the official said.
Inmates who work as cooks will prepare the special meals, which include a variety of Bengali dishes.
The menu will consist of Macher matha diye pui shak (Malabar spinach with fish head), macher matha diye dal (dal with fish head), luchi-cholar dal (puri and Bengali chana dal), payesh (Bengali porridge), chicken curry, alu potol chingri (shrimp with pointed gourd and potato), mutton biryani with raita (mixed curd), and basanti pulao (yellow pulao).
Non-vegetarian food will not be served to everyone, respecting religious sentiments. Inmates will be asked to choose their preferred items.
"We want to bring changes in their routine, a break from their daily lives. For many Bengalis or even people of different communities living in the state for years, Durga puja and other festivals are incomplete without fish and meat items on their platter. Hence we tried to bring variety in their cuisines so that they will relish as Bengalis," the official explained.
Presidency Jail, which houses former state ministers Partha Chatterjee, Jyoti Priya Mallick, and ex-principal of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh, is among the correctional homes implementing this change.
Currently, there are 26,994 men and 1,778 women lodged in 59 correctional homes across the state, according to another official.
"For every major event, we seek to make special arrangements for the inmates," the official added. The new menu will be implemented in all correctional homes during the festive season.
(With inputs from PTI)
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